Programs of Study

Graduate education at the University of Michigan is a shared enterprise. The Rackham Graduate School works together with faculty in the schools and colleges of the University to provide more than 180 graduate degree programs and to sustain a dynamic intellectual climate within which graduate students thrive.

Funding

The University of Michigan provides many sources of financial assistance to help students meet educational and living expenses. Whether you are a prospective student, a current student, a master’s or doctoral student, we want to make sure you know about the funding available for your graduate education.

Rackham Graduate School

Over 8,300 students are enrolled in Rackham degree programs taught and advised by faculty in graduate programs situated within 18 of the 19 schools and colleges across the Ann Arbor campus. Another 7,000 students are enrolled in graduate and professional degree programs administered separately by individual schools and colleges at U-M.

Postdoctoral Professional Travel with Children

Postdoctoral Professional Travel with Children

The demands of parenting children present special challenges to postdoctoral fellows who desire to participate in academic conferences as part of their research and scholarship. Through its family friendly policies, the Rackham Graduate School and the ADVANCE Program strongly support postdoctoral fellows at the University of Michigan who are working to balance family obligations and scholarly research. The Rackham Graduate School and ADVANCE will provide up to a maximum of $750 per postdoctoral fellow per 12 month period for approved travel expenses for children under the age of six (up to and including age five at the time of travel) that accompany a postdoctoral parent to a professional meeting.

Allowable travel expenses when children accompany postdoctoral fellows to academic conferences may include a child’s airfare, car seat rental, crib rental or daycare charges. Expenses must be related to the postdoctoral fellow’s approved travel and must include appropriate documentation of the expense.

Requests seeking reimbursement for childcare provided by a spouse/partner/other family member will not be approved. Questions regarding allowable expenses may be directed to the Rackham Graduate School at rackhamdeansinfo@umich.edu.

Please note that the IRS considers reimbursed child travel expenses as taxable income. Therefore, reimbursement to the postdoctoral fellow will be processed as Additional Pay.

Process

At least four weeks prior to the planned travel, the postdoctoral fellow should complete a request for pre-approval using the online form. No retroactive requests for reimbursements will be granted.

Postdoctoral fellows will receive a confirmation of pre-approval for travel expenses from ADVANCE (PDChildTravel@umich.edu).

The postdoctoral fellow must use a personal form of payment for any travel expenses and retain all related receipts. P-Cards may not be used for child-travel expenses.

Promptly after returning from the trip, the postdoctoral fellow should complete a request for reimbursement using the online form, which will require uploading appropriate receipt(s) and a brief explanation for each expense.

Rackham Graduate School will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21. We will return at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, November 26. During the holiday, there will be no processing of application materials and no updates to your Wolverine Access account. After we reopen, there will be a delay in processing application materials. Thank you for your patience as we process the high volume of materials.